


Acting Out

by afterthenovels



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-28
Updated: 2014-09-28
Packaged: 2018-02-19 04:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2374196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterthenovels/pseuds/afterthenovels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally getting Kurt Hummel as his scene partner doesn't work out so well for Blaine. Or maybe it actually does.</p>
<p>Written for <a href="http://mycollidingworlds.tumblr.com">Kelsey</a> who asked for "a bit of conflict with a sweet ending". College AU where Kurt and Blaine first met at NYADA.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acting Out

“–and Anderson and Hummel. Alright, partner up, people!”

Blaine’s head snaps up from where he’s been staring at his notes without actually seeing anything. The professor has already turned her back on the class, and people around him are scrambling away from their seats to find their assigned partners, scripts in hand.

Blaine usually concentrates well during his classes, but today he’s still feeling the late night he had yesterday – Sam had begged him to be his wingman and Blaine, the loyal friend he is, had accepted even though he knew he had an early class the next day. He panics for a moment, fumbling with his papers until he finds the play they’re working on today. He completely missed the name of his scene partner when he snapped out of his daydreams, and he’s desperately hoping that person is already coming to him so he doesn’t have to feel like an idiot for leaving his partner waiting.

And then Kurt Hummel drops down on the chair opposite him.

Blaine knows Kurt, of course he does; they’ve had a few freshman courses together, have exchanged some words if they’ve ended up sitting next to each other, and Blaine always smiles or waves at Kurt if he happens to see him around campus. Kurt is usually talking to Rachel Berry, NYADA’s own celebrity, but he still smiles and waves back at Blaine every time, his gorgeous, breath-taking smile directed at Blaine and Blaine alone for a precious few seconds.

Yes, Blaine has a crush on him. They’re acquaintances, maybe even distant friends, but ever since Blaine first saw Kurt walking out of the campus coffee shop during orientation week, phone pressed to his ear and his head thrown back in laughter, Blaine has been hopelessly and desperately falling for him. Kurt walks around campus like he owns the whole school but still takes the time to be nice to people who deserve it; he has a quirky sense of humor and his comments during classes are always spot-on and incredibly witty – and okay, yes, he’s really hot as well. Blaine’s not blind. He’s never seen anyone like Kurt Hummel before, and he means that in the best possible way.

Despite all the courses they’ve shared, they’ve never worked together on a scene before, and Blaine unconsciously straightens his back, his mind suddenly more alert and his smile widening when Kurt places his own script on the desk between them.

“Hi, Kurt!” he says brightly – _oh my god, Blaine, tone it down before you look like a creep_ – and glances at Kurt’s script to make sure he has the right scene.

“Yeah, yeah, hi,” Kurt sighs, not looking up from his own script.

Blaine’s smile falters a little at Kurt’s monotone, but he pushes on, flicking through the scene they need to work on. It only has two roles, and it seems to be a dramatic scene, with lots of yelled lines and next to no stage directions. They’ve been working on unpleasant feelings and arguments for the past few weeks, so it’s not that surprising that this is their next scene.

“So do you have a preference?” he asks, looking up from his script. Kurt’s eyebrows are furrowed, his face turned down in a scowl, but Blaine keeps the smile on his own face, still excited about getting the chance to work with Kurt. “I think the role of Anthony would be fun to play, but if you want it, we can–”

“Look, Blaine, I honestly don’t care,” Kurt interrupts, his piercing gaze stopping the words in Blaine’s mouth. “This exercise has no effect on our grades, so let’s just get it over with, okay?”

Blaine blinks. He can feel his own expression falling. “Oh. O-okay, sure.”

“You can be Anthony and I’ll take Cliff,” Kurt goes on, flipping through his script with sharp, angry movements of his hand, not even looking up to meet Blaine’s eyes.

It’s so different from the Kurt Blaine’s used to, from the one who smiles at him and jokes about their eccentric professors with him, from the one who always looks so happy and gives Blaine an enthusiastic wave whenever he spots him in the cafeteria, and Blaine immediately tries to remember if he’s done something wrong, if he accidentally said something offensive the last time he was chatting with Kurt. He comes up with nothing, and that makes the tone of Kurt’s voice feel even more bizarre. Even worse.

Blaine doesn’t like it when people have a problem with him. He likes to be liked, sometimes even a bit too much, and it makes him uncomfortable when someone is rude to him.

“Um, Kurt, I–” he starts awkwardly, intending to apologize for whatever he might have done, but Kurt interrupts him again.

“You have the first line,” he snaps. "Let's start."

They go through the scene a few times, Kurt’s acting getting more and more aggressive and vicious every single time. It fits the scene, it fits the argument they’re acting out very well, actually, but Blaine can feel himself flinching at Kurt’s words by the time they have to stand up and show their classmates what they’ve managed to get done. And it’s not Anthony that’s flinching, even though to everyone else it probably looks like that – it’s Blaine himself, trying to get away from the frustration and anger in Kurt’s eyes, the way his voice sounds so dismissive and upset. He’s not sure how much of it is acting and how much Kurt’s own feelings.

When they reach the last lines, Blaine has to blink a few tears away from his eyes – he’s tired and stressed and confused, perhaps even a little hung-over from last night, but he pushes through, using his own emotions to fuel Anthony’s. He doesn’t meet Kurt’s eyes when they’re done; just takes a few deep breaths and flashes a polite smile to their professor when she compliments their work, and then watches Kurt storm out of the room when the class ends.

 

\---

 

Blaine doesn’t see Kurt for the rest of the week, and that could actually be a good thing, for both of them. He still hasn’t come up with any reason why Kurt might be angry with him, and even though Sam tries to suggest that maybe Kurt was just having a bad day and happened to take it out on Blaine, Blaine can't get himself to believe it. He wants to see Kurt and ask him if he’s alright, if they’re alright, but that seems a little pretentious, considering they’re not even that close.

So he tries to let it go, and when he shows up early for their acting class the next week, he carefully chooses a chair as far away from Kurt’s usual place as he can. He’s not avoiding him, he just... doesn’t want to make Kurt upset, if there is a reason why Kurt is angry with him. That’s all.

There are over ten minutes left before the class will start, and Blaine is scrolling through his phone, checking a few dates from his e-mails, when he hears someone come up to his desk, footsteps stopping right next to him and a shadow falling over his phone.

“Blaine?”

Blaine looks up. Kurt is standing next to him, his hand clasped tightly around the strap of his messenger bag, his whole expression and body language the epitome of unsure. He’s biting his lip, shoulders hunched as if he’s expecting Blaine to just brush him off.

“Kurt,” Blaine says, confused. He turns to face him, putting his phone away. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Kurt replies awkwardly, wringing his hands together. “I... I wanted to apologize for how I acted last week. It was... really uncalled for, and I’m so sorry.”

“Oh.” Blaine swallows. “It’s alright, I just... I just assumed that you were having a bad day or something,” he lies, not wanting to admit how much Kurt’s behavior had affected him.

Kurt shakes his head. “It’s not alright,” he insists, almost a little desperately. “I was awful to you, really awful, and when I got home that day I realized that we... That neither of us was really acting during that scene, were we?” He looks straight into Blaine’s eyes, his own face so unguarded and worried. “It was more about me spewing all my frustration on you and you just... letting me, and I’m so, _so_ sorry I was so horrible to you that day.”

Blaine frowns, connecting the dots. “So you weren’t... angry at me?”

“No!” Kurt rushes to say, shaking his head and reaching out his hand, as if he’s about to touch Blaine before he pulls his arm back. “No, of course not, Blaine, you haven’t done anything to upset me. It wasn’t even about you, I was just...” He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I was just having a really bad day. It’s definitely not an excuse, I know, but I had a fight with my dad the previous night and–”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Blaine assures him. He knows how close Kurt is with his dad; it’s come up before in their conversations.

“But I want to,” Kurt says, and something warm spreads through Blaine’s chest at the words. “He was... He had some health problems when I was younger, and apparently now he had had some chest pains a few weeks ago and didn’t tell me because he didn’t want me to worry when they turned out to be nothing, but I... I was upset and worried, and then I had an argument with my roommates that morning as well and–”

Blaine instinctively reaches out and takes Kurt’s hand, squeezing it gently. Kurt’s sentence trails off, his eyes dropping down to stare at their joined hands in amazement, and for a moment Blaine considers pulling back, letting go and acting like nothing happened. But Kurt’s hand is soft and warm and fits so well against his own that he just... can’t.

“I’m sorry you had a bad day,” Blaine says, lowering his voice when a few more people enter the classroom. “And I was...” He considers his words for a moment. “I was _upset_ by your behavior, I won’t deny that, but now that you told me what was going on and why you were acting the way you did...” He shrugs. “It’s alright. We all have awful days every now and then. And we all sometimes take out our frustrations on the people who just happen to be there.”

Kurt searches Blaine’s face, a worried wrinkle between his eyebrows. “So we’re still friends? I haven’t ruined our friendship with my craziness?”

Blaine lets out a laugh, squeezing Kurt’s hand again. _Friends_. They’re friends, and god, hearing that word come out of Kurt's mouth when Blaine himself was too scared to make assumptions about their relationship sounds so amazing. “Yes, of course! Apology accepted.”

Kurt breathes out in relief with a laugh of his own. “Oh, thank goodness. I should just stay away from people when I’m having a bad day, but I thought coming to this class would actually cheer me up.” He looks down, hesitating, and then swings their hands between their bodies. “But then I just ended up being awful to the one person who always cheers me up.”

Blaine blinks, his breath catching in his throat.

“Can I... Can I buy you coffee after class?” Kurt asks, smiling nervously. “To make up for my bad behavior last week?”

Blaine can practically feel his heart fluttering inside his chest, the hand that’s still holding Kurt’s starting to sweat.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” he blurts out before his mind can catch up with his mouth, and when it finally does he’s ready to sink through the floor in embarrassment. Oh god, Kurt just said that they were friends, and now he’s already jumping way ahead.

But Kurt only laughs, a soft, excited sound that makes his cheeks go pink and his eyes light up. “Yes?” he says, suddenly rubbing his thumb over Blaine’s knuckles, and oh, right, they’re still holding hands. It feels so natural that Blaine had basically forgotten about it. “I mean, it depends on your answer, I guess?” Kurt adds.

“Yes,” Blaine breathes out immediately. “Yes, I’d love to get coffee with you.”

“Great!” Kurt says, bouncing on his feet, looking like he’s going to start squealing right there and then. If he did, Blaine would probably join him. “It’s a date, then.”

“It’s a date,” Blaine repeats, grinning so wide that it’s a wonder his face isn’t breaking in half already.

(They get partnered up again during the class, this time for a scene between two lovers; and, well, if Blaine makes heart-eyes at Kurt a bit more often than the scene actually requires or Kurt bursts into blushy excited giggles at least two or three times – it’s not like anyone can really blame them.)


End file.
